U.S. Acknowledges Its Drone Strikes

By

Adam Entous

June 15, 2012 6:16 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama, in a letter to Congress on Friday, publicly acknowledged what may be one of his administration's worst-kept national-security secrets: that the U.S. military conducts strikes in Yemen and Somalia against wanted militants allegedly linked to al Qaeda.

The move effectively declassifies the existence of the military's targeted-killing campaigns against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen and...